Locating U.S. Theological Education In a Global Context: Conversations with American Higher Education, 2019
Over the past two decades, the concept internationalization has become a central feature of debat... more Over the past two decades, the concept internationalization has become a central feature of debates over the purpose, place, and role of American higher education in an increasingly global higher education context. In this chapter, I place the decades-long conversation about the globalization of U.S. theological education in conversation with its higher education counterpart, exploring ways in which this dialogue might yield insight, cautionary tales, and even correction for theological education.
L'A. traite de la relation entre les pratiques ecclesiales, le culte et la theologie officiel... more L'A. traite de la relation entre les pratiques ecclesiales, le culte et la theologie officielle d'une communaute chretienne, et traite du poids normatif et constitutif des pratiques liturgiques dans une communaute chretienne, notamment dans le cadre des communautes protestantes et des contacts qu'elles ont avec les non croyants. Il prend l'exemple de deux congregations methodistes unies.
Christian Education Journal: Research on Educational Ministry, 2013
In an age of overwhelming quantities of information, an increasing superficiality of understandin... more In an age of overwhelming quantities of information, an increasing superficiality of understanding, and an increasing emphasis on “devices,” Christian educators can invite learners into transformational learning through focal contemplative practices that help learners sharpen their attention and deepen their experience. Participation in focal practices invites the emergence of contemplation and helps cultivate a readiness to receive the gift of contemplation. This essay explores briefly the relationship between focal practice and contemplation. It then considers three particular practices that can support and encourage contemplative knowing across a range of teaching/learning contexts: contemplative looking, contemplative reading, and contemplative play.
interdisciplinarity across theological education from Bible to spirituality to support a variety ... more interdisciplinarity across theological education from Bible to spirituality to support a variety of religious practices. While nearly every chapter names the importance of engaging the kinds of diversities apparent across the volume, few chapters engage each other within the volume beyond what is evident in the endnotes. Of note, readers learn that the alphabetically last chapter on white practical theology was in fact an afterthought to the table of contents. Here Turpin and Beaudoin outline how the drive toward systematizing practical theology has fueled and can continue to fuel resistance to self-reflexivity required to engage ‘‘whatever keeps whiteness invisible and yet ultimately authoritative’’ (266). Without this chapter as a significant step toward a self-reflexivity demanded across any and every opening, fears articulated by Andrews, Goto, and Ospino of undue burden on underrepresented practical theologians would be even more founded. The volume thus provides a deep opening into reflecting on intersectional dynamics at stake in life-giving and deathdealing religious practices today. Opening the Field invites readers to enter practical theology’s convergences (named in the conclusion as valuing self-reflection, context, and interdisciplinarity) and divergences (named in the conclusion as differing interpretations of human experiences, historical contexts, and normative sources). The editors also encourage readers to play with the order of the chapters, underlying commitments, organization provided by the common template, and additional convergences and divergences. However, I wonder if an additional self-reflexive section in the template inviting contributors to assess the limits of play and politics of power around the use of a common template would have deepened this invitation to creative engagement. Still, the volume affirms practical theology’s robust role in formative theological study, carrying on a long-standing conversation among scholars that is itself open to new voices and perspectives. Opening the Field provides an invaluable contribution to a field of study that has opened multiple significant future trajectories.
What do we think we are saying and doing when we as a worshiping community hear the words "This i... more What do we think we are saying and doing when we as a worshiping community hear the words "This is the gospel of Christ" and respond "Praise to Christ our Lord" or "Praise to you, a Christ"; or when we hear "The Word of God for the people of God" and respond "Thanks be to God"? And, what is it we are saying and doing with our "Amen" after hearing "The body of Christ, broken for you; the blood of Christ shed for you" as we receive the bread and cup? While there are a number of possible answers to these questions, I want to explore one primary idea: that in the liturgical proclamation of scripture and in the sharing of the eucharistic bread and cup Christ is being offered to us. Our response, however we ritualize it, is an acceptance of that offer. Three concerns that Michael Vasey raised in his short essay "Worship and the Bible" have guided my reflections: first, the church's tendencies to separate the cerebral and symbolic, word and sacrament; second, current Protestant tendencies to see scripture and sacrament as "intrusions into 'real worship' " or as simply some kind of adjunct or aid to preaching; and third, Vasey's proposal that "liturgy is the incorporation into the life, memory and celebration of the community of the 'word of Christ.' "1 In brief, then, my thesis is this: scripture and sacrament have their home in Christian liturgy, where, as comparable means of grace, they make present to us the incarnate Word of God, and through which God offers Godself to us for the sake of our salvation.
... Isaiah 35:4–7a with Psalm 146 Unlike most of Isaiah, chapters 1–39, this reading comes from a... more ... Isaiah 35:4–7a with Psalm 146 Unlike most of Isaiah, chapters 1–39, this reading comes from a reflection on the later return from ... woman in Year A. In discussing the story of the Syrophoenician woman, I will follow some of the observations of Bonnie Bowman Thurston in her ...
... lies an understanding of Trinitarian theology as a theology of relationship, a theology which... more ... lies an understanding of Trinitarian theology as a theology of relationship, a theology which, echoing ... as choreographers who can teach others the shape of the dance, of the Trinitarian perichoresis. ... not only to what is learned but to the re-ligious practices that shape and bear ...
... View full textDownload full text Full access. DOI: 10.1080/07321870903028937 Ricky A. Woods, ... more ... View full textDownload full text Full access. DOI: 10.1080/07321870903028937 Ricky A. Woods, Judith Simonson, Stacy Minger, Judy Buck-Glenn & E. Byron (Ron ... The agency is supported by two denominations, but they do not have a relationship that allows common worship. ...
Locating U.S. Theological Education In a Global Context: Conversations with American Higher Education, 2019
Over the past two decades, the concept internationalization has become a central feature of debat... more Over the past two decades, the concept internationalization has become a central feature of debates over the purpose, place, and role of American higher education in an increasingly global higher education context. In this chapter, I place the decades-long conversation about the globalization of U.S. theological education in conversation with its higher education counterpart, exploring ways in which this dialogue might yield insight, cautionary tales, and even correction for theological education.
L'A. traite de la relation entre les pratiques ecclesiales, le culte et la theologie officiel... more L'A. traite de la relation entre les pratiques ecclesiales, le culte et la theologie officielle d'une communaute chretienne, et traite du poids normatif et constitutif des pratiques liturgiques dans une communaute chretienne, notamment dans le cadre des communautes protestantes et des contacts qu'elles ont avec les non croyants. Il prend l'exemple de deux congregations methodistes unies.
Christian Education Journal: Research on Educational Ministry, 2013
In an age of overwhelming quantities of information, an increasing superficiality of understandin... more In an age of overwhelming quantities of information, an increasing superficiality of understanding, and an increasing emphasis on “devices,” Christian educators can invite learners into transformational learning through focal contemplative practices that help learners sharpen their attention and deepen their experience. Participation in focal practices invites the emergence of contemplation and helps cultivate a readiness to receive the gift of contemplation. This essay explores briefly the relationship between focal practice and contemplation. It then considers three particular practices that can support and encourage contemplative knowing across a range of teaching/learning contexts: contemplative looking, contemplative reading, and contemplative play.
interdisciplinarity across theological education from Bible to spirituality to support a variety ... more interdisciplinarity across theological education from Bible to spirituality to support a variety of religious practices. While nearly every chapter names the importance of engaging the kinds of diversities apparent across the volume, few chapters engage each other within the volume beyond what is evident in the endnotes. Of note, readers learn that the alphabetically last chapter on white practical theology was in fact an afterthought to the table of contents. Here Turpin and Beaudoin outline how the drive toward systematizing practical theology has fueled and can continue to fuel resistance to self-reflexivity required to engage ‘‘whatever keeps whiteness invisible and yet ultimately authoritative’’ (266). Without this chapter as a significant step toward a self-reflexivity demanded across any and every opening, fears articulated by Andrews, Goto, and Ospino of undue burden on underrepresented practical theologians would be even more founded. The volume thus provides a deep opening into reflecting on intersectional dynamics at stake in life-giving and deathdealing religious practices today. Opening the Field invites readers to enter practical theology’s convergences (named in the conclusion as valuing self-reflection, context, and interdisciplinarity) and divergences (named in the conclusion as differing interpretations of human experiences, historical contexts, and normative sources). The editors also encourage readers to play with the order of the chapters, underlying commitments, organization provided by the common template, and additional convergences and divergences. However, I wonder if an additional self-reflexive section in the template inviting contributors to assess the limits of play and politics of power around the use of a common template would have deepened this invitation to creative engagement. Still, the volume affirms practical theology’s robust role in formative theological study, carrying on a long-standing conversation among scholars that is itself open to new voices and perspectives. Opening the Field provides an invaluable contribution to a field of study that has opened multiple significant future trajectories.
What do we think we are saying and doing when we as a worshiping community hear the words "This i... more What do we think we are saying and doing when we as a worshiping community hear the words "This is the gospel of Christ" and respond "Praise to Christ our Lord" or "Praise to you, a Christ"; or when we hear "The Word of God for the people of God" and respond "Thanks be to God"? And, what is it we are saying and doing with our "Amen" after hearing "The body of Christ, broken for you; the blood of Christ shed for you" as we receive the bread and cup? While there are a number of possible answers to these questions, I want to explore one primary idea: that in the liturgical proclamation of scripture and in the sharing of the eucharistic bread and cup Christ is being offered to us. Our response, however we ritualize it, is an acceptance of that offer. Three concerns that Michael Vasey raised in his short essay "Worship and the Bible" have guided my reflections: first, the church's tendencies to separate the cerebral and symbolic, word and sacrament; second, current Protestant tendencies to see scripture and sacrament as "intrusions into 'real worship' " or as simply some kind of adjunct or aid to preaching; and third, Vasey's proposal that "liturgy is the incorporation into the life, memory and celebration of the community of the 'word of Christ.' "1 In brief, then, my thesis is this: scripture and sacrament have their home in Christian liturgy, where, as comparable means of grace, they make present to us the incarnate Word of God, and through which God offers Godself to us for the sake of our salvation.
... Isaiah 35:4–7a with Psalm 146 Unlike most of Isaiah, chapters 1–39, this reading comes from a... more ... Isaiah 35:4–7a with Psalm 146 Unlike most of Isaiah, chapters 1–39, this reading comes from a reflection on the later return from ... woman in Year A. In discussing the story of the Syrophoenician woman, I will follow some of the observations of Bonnie Bowman Thurston in her ...
... lies an understanding of Trinitarian theology as a theology of relationship, a theology which... more ... lies an understanding of Trinitarian theology as a theology of relationship, a theology which, echoing ... as choreographers who can teach others the shape of the dance, of the Trinitarian perichoresis. ... not only to what is learned but to the re-ligious practices that shape and bear ...
... View full textDownload full text Full access. DOI: 10.1080/07321870903028937 Ricky A. Woods, ... more ... View full textDownload full text Full access. DOI: 10.1080/07321870903028937 Ricky A. Woods, Judith Simonson, Stacy Minger, Judy Buck-Glenn & E. Byron (Ron ... The agency is supported by two denominations, but they do not have a relationship that allows common worship. ...
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